AFRICA

The recent military takeover of power in Burkina Faso, the third in three years in West Africa, is causing worry that democracy may be backsliding in the region and that more coups could be in the offing. Liberian peace activist, who received the Nobel Prize in 2011, Leymah Gbowee, comments on the spate of military coups in West Africa, calling …

Start-up funding in Africa topped $1.2 billion in 2020 – a six-fold increase in five years, but still less than 1% of the value that US start-ups raised. The continent’s research and development (R&D) investment is only a quarter of the global averageAfrica is trailing behind the world in developing a knowledge-based, digital economyGovernments can change this by fuelling tech …

The Bayelsa State Government has said that it would partner with the AfricanTide Union, an international social development organisation, to train over 200 Bayelsans in various skills. The Commissioner for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Hon. Stanley Braboke, stated this on Monday during a meeting with the management of AfricanTide Union in Yenagoa. He expressed delight that the AfricanTide Technical Training …

PORTSMOUTH, United Kingdom, January 12th, 2021,-/African Media Agency(AMA)/- The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards committee has unveiled the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, as the African Political Leader of the Year 2021; the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masis, as the African Peace & Security Leader of the Year 2021; Egyptian Football Star, Mo Salah, as ALM Young …

NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber, argues against those pushing for a halt to new investments in Africa’s oil and gas industry. The majority of those making these demands are based in industrialized nations that were built on fossil fuels, he argues. For more than a year, the African Energy Chamber has been pushing back against steadily building pressure …

The African National Congress of South Africa marks 110 years of its existence on 8 January 2012. The Congress, which led the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa, has been governing the country since its independence in 1994. Our Senior Contributing Editor Eric Singh**, who joined the ANC in 1951 and participated actively in the struggle against Apartheid, …

It is projected that under the African Continental Free Trade Area, extreme poverty will significantly decline across the continent, writes Zion Adeoye, Managing Director for Centurion Law Group’s AfCFTA Desk, and he lists what Africa has to do to realise the potential of the trade agreement — Established in 2018, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents perhaps Africa’s …

Dr. Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament representing Germany on the platform of the Green Party, pays tribute to Desmond Mpilo Tutu, the South African Anglican bishop and theologian known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist who died at the age of 90 on 26 December. —– The South African Archbishop of the Anglican Church passed …

Desmond Mpilo Tutu, the South African Anglican bishop and theologian known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist, died at the age of 90 on 26 December. The clergyman, who in 1984 received the Nobel Prize for Peace, emerged as one of the most prominent opponents of South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation and white minority …

The year 2021 has been characterized by thirteen elections in Africa – in Uganda, Niger, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Benin, Chad, Ethiopia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Zambia, Somalia, Cabo Verde, Gambia, and Libya. Of these 13 elections, only those in Zambia, Cabo Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe could be considered free and fair. Why are elections failing in Africa? …

WhatsApp, has announced the launch of #YouSaid, a campaign to educate people on how to verify information they come across before passing it on, to help reduce the spread of false news in Nigeria. The campaign offers tips for WhatsApp users to spot false news and take responsibility in minimising its spread, by encouraging people to think carefully and check …

Incumbent president of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, has won the country’s presidential election held on Saturday December 4. Mr Barrow, who contested the election under the flagship of the National People’s Party (NPP), polled 457, 519 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ousainou Darboe, of the United Democratic Party (UDP). Mr Darboe garnered 238, 253 votes, according to results released …

With $3.75 million in seed funding, Kasa! hopes to raise $10 million in total to support sexual violence survivors and feminist and women’s rights organisations over the next five years LAGOS, Nigeria, December 3, 2021 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Today, the Ford Foundation and Open Society Initiative for West Africa, announced their commitment of $3.75 million to launch Kasa! Ending Sexual …

Distinguished speakers from different walks of life addressed the 2021 G-PAD Forum on Thursday 25 (November), discussing the issues surrounding sustainable development in Africa. Among the keynote speakers at the opening of the conference, holding on 24-25 November with the theme ‘Transformative Partnerships for Sustainable Development in Africa’, were Philip Keil, Executive Director, SEZ – Foundation for Development Cooperation, Baden-Württemberg; …

Nigeria’s new national carrier is expected to take off in April 2022, the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has announced. This follows the approval for the establishment of the national carrier, called Nigeria Air, by the federal cabinet on Wednesday at a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Sirika, who made the announcement …

The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) Germany e.V. will launch a series of formal conversations on how the diaspora could have a more impactful effect on homeland development in December. The first edition of the ‘Development Roundtable’, as the series is called, will hold virtually on 4 December 2021, with the theme “Driving diaspora engagement towards the realisation of the …

The 2021 G-PAD Forum, taking place on 25-26 November and which was initially planned to be a hybrid event, will now hold only virtually. The organisers of the annual conference, Lead Africa International, a global non-governmental organization dealing with development issues, announced the change of format on Thursday, explaining that the rising coronavirus infection figures and the need to protect …

Former President John Jerry Rawlings of Ghana was in Germany on 21 October 2006 to launch the African Forum, an organisation dedicated to the democratic transformation of the African continent. Rawlings, who ruled his country for 19 years, identified what he considered as the core problem facing Africa. We bring you back the report in memory of a great African …

Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, 10 November 2021 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Young people in North Africa are unlikely to befriend, date or marry someone from sub-Saharan Africa. This revelation was made in the ‘One Africa?’ report which unpacks narratives about Pan-Africanism and continental integration. The research polled 4500 people aged 18 to 35 in Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, …

As world leaders gather for the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021, an African expert explains how insurance could achieve four times the impact of post-disaster aid in the continent —— By Amadou Diallo, Regional Disaster Risk Financing Coordinator, Crisis Anticipation and Risk Financing at Start Network DAKAR, …